


The Question Game

by Autumn_Llleaves



Category: Der Ring des Nibelungen | The Ring of the Nibelung - Wagner
Genre: Alternate Chapter Version, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Family Drama, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 05:15:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30134559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Autumn_Llleaves/pseuds/Autumn_Llleaves
Summary: An alternate version ofThe Cliff's chapter 10. Wotan does offer the three-question deal to Mime.
Relationships: Brünnhilde/Mime (Der Ring des Nibelungen)





	The Question Game

**Author's Note:**

> _The Cliff_ : https://archiveofourown.org/works/8816308

_A stranger in a long robe and a hat that hid one of his eye looked at the dwarf disdainfully:_

_"O host, will you grant a refuge to a lonely wanderer?"_

_Mime didn't have a chance to reply. Brünnhilde who had been watching the man suddenly rushed towards him, crying:_

_"Father!"_

_"Brünnhilde?" exclaimed the Wanderer who was Wotan, amazed. "You – here?"_

_"Brünnhilde is my wife," Mime informed him, thinking that he'd have to let the unwanted guest after all. Since he's relation…_

The Cliff _, Chapter 10, “For Some or Other”  
_

Wotan himself was pretty discouraged and only came in reluctantly. He had long noticed that Brünnhilde’s sleeping spell had been lifted, but he thought she was awoken by some traveller or one of Gibich’s servants. How could Mime, famous for his cowardice, have got that far away from his hut?

As he sat down by the hearth, he realised, to his astonishment, that Brünnhilde didn’t even look unhappy with her marriage to that lowly Nibelung. At least, currently the couple firmly held each other’s hands and watched him warily.

“Looks like I’m unwelcome,” he finally said. “With those who have been hospitable to me, I have shared my wisdom.”

“I don’t need that, thank you,” said Mime (Brünnhilde started frantically whispering in his ear, but he paid no heed to it). “I have enough of my own, and in case of anything your own daughter lives here as well.”

Wotan frowned:

“Listen here, wise dwarf. Try asking me three questions. I wager my head I can answer all of them.”

Brünnhilde seemed to understand what he was getting at. She blanched and pulled at Mime’s elbow:

“Don’t agree to it! Father, don’t be offended, Mime has a bit of a temper...”

“No!” Mime said, proud of being braver than the Valkyrie for once. “I’m ready!”

“Well, well,” Wotan chuckled, relaxing and making himself comfortable by the hearth. Now this smug little dwarf would ask about some trifles, and then...

“How can I make Siegfried work in the smithy?” Mime asked.

Wotan stared at him:

“Wuh-what?”

“It’s one of the questions Brünnhilde and I can’t answer.”

“Ah,” Wotan opened his mouth and closed it again. “Actually, he’ll forge Notung anyway.”

To his amazement, Mime and Brünnhilde merely shrugged.

“Our birdie has told us already,” the former Valkyrie explained.

“And the question wasn’t about that!” added Mime. “Notung’s all well and good, but what about Grane’s shoes? The tableware? It’s all on me, isn’t it? How can I persuade Siegfried to do some work?”

“You can’t!” Wotan said. “He’s free and can do as he likes! There’s your answer!”

“Why am I burdened with all this?” the Nibelung demonstratively raised his hands to the ceiling. Brünnhilde quickly said:

“This was question two.”

Wotan wiped his forehead, hoping they wouldn’t notice. The question competition wasn’t going according to plan. Why hadn’t he checked Brünnhilde’s whereabouts beforehand? Mime wouldn’t have gained the upper hand without her help...

“Brünnhilde’s marriage was a punishment for her, and you became the one to wake her up by accident,” he admitted. “Sieglinde, when she learned she was pregnant, was sent to the woods by the Valkyries, so – none of that is your fault. In this case.”

“Is it true?” Mime turned to Brünnhilde. She nodded. She clasped her hands together on her knees, and her face was flushing with anxiety. Knowing her father, he expected him to make Mime wager his own head after answering the last question correctly.

“The third question?” Wotan prompted.

“Yes, let me think,” Mime looked around, as if expecting to find the question hidden somewhere at hand. He glanced at the ceiling... at the dried sweet-amber by the hearth... at the table... at the remnants of yet another sword... at the smithy’s door... at the staircase...

Suddenly, his eyes lit up. Leaning closer so that Brünnhilde wouldn’t hear, he whispered:

“Will you acknowledge my marriage to Brünnhilde by inscribing the runes of it on your spear?”

With a triumphant look he walked back to Brünnhilde, who indeed hadn’t heard anything and was waiting, petrified, for her father to give an answer.

Wotan, though, was beside himself with rage, grabbed the spear and hurried to the door. And immediately stopped in his tracks, remembering the wager.

“Go where you please, I don’t need your head,” said Mime.

When he was already beyond the doorstep, Brünnhilde ran to him:

“Father!” she exclaimed in a trembling voice, hugging his shoulders. “Don’t you have any kind word at all to say to your daughter?”

“You’re no daughter of mine!” Wotan shook her off. “You have degraded herself to the level of the Nibelungs – you are no longer worthy to call me a father!”

It was hard for him, of course, but the disdain he felt for Mime and his people, who now had Brünnhilde among them, overcame the lingering affection for his formerly best-loved child. 

As the hut was now some distance away, he turned around and looked back. Brünnhilde, in tears, had curled up right on the doorstep, and Mime was embracing her and whispering something that seemed to comfort her somewhat. Wotan blinked, hardly believing his eyes. The Nibelung and the Valkyrie’s embrace became more passionate, and they now progressed to kisses.

Wotan averted his eyes in disgust and walked away with determination, thinking of the cursed ring that was so close in the neighbourhood. 


End file.
